One out of every three cigarettes is lit in China, and respiratory disease is on the rise. Some are asking what the future of smoking will look like in China. US-China Today clears the haze:
China is the world’s heaviest smoker. The China National Tobacco Company (CNTC), a constituent of the government-run China State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, is the largest tobacco company in the world, and Chinese constitute one-third of all the world’s smokers. Also, the country’s tobacco industry accounts for about 8% of total government revenues, according to the World Bank, and health experts and global economists are curious: can the Chinese government kick the habit?
[…]Many analysts agree that the future of China’s tobacco industry is either “economics or health,” not both. And it seems that for now, the economy is winning, and the only warning most smokers will see is the feeble message on cigarette labels: “smoking is harmful to your health.”
